


i could be happy with you

by lostin_space



Series: my 12 (actually 13) days of gifts [8]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21874597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: “Alex, I need you to be my boyfriend.”“Kyle, you’re a heterosexual man.”
Relationships: Alex Manes/Kyle Valenti
Series: my 12 (actually 13) days of gifts [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569967
Comments: 21
Kudos: 85





	i could be happy with you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lusblim4](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lusblim4/gifts).



> day 8! You said I didn't have to gift this to you since you asked on anon, but I did it anyway because you deserve love. This is the last day of requests, after this will all be ideas written for people I felt deserved an extra little love. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> special thanks to [caitlesshea](http://caitlesshea.tumblr.com//) for the idea

“Alex, I need you to be my boyfriend.”

“Kyle, you’re a heterosexual man.”

Kyle groaned and dramatically threw himself onto Alex’s bed. His arms splayed out and he helplessly gazed up at Alex who simply smiled at him.

“I’ll entertain this. Why do you need me to be your boyfriend?” Alex asked, sitting beside him and patting him on the stomach. 

“My family goes on a big Christmas getaway every other year, which you know, and my Abuelita told me to bring my girlfriend. You know, the one that I don’t have,” Kyle answered helplessly, “But I need to bring _someone_ or she’s going to think I lied.”

“You did lie.”

“Yeah, well, she wouldn’t stop asking me when I was gonna settle down,” Kyle whined. Alex simply laughed again. 

“Why not ask Isobel?”

“She’s too easy to fall in love with for real.”

“Ouch, and I’m not?” Alex wondered, falling back on the bed beside him. Kyle stared at him for a moment and tried to decide if he actually was a safe option. Kyle observed the natural color of his cheeks and his jawline and his smile and his thankfully-better-than-last-year haircut. He was actually stunning. Kyle had to take a deep breath.

“No offense, Alex, but you’re not my type,” Kyle said and decided he wasn’t completely lying. Alex smirked, slowly propping himself up on his elbow. 

“Okay, what would we have to do to sell it?” Alex asked. Kyle broke into a smile and propped himself up as well.

“You’re gonna help?”

“Maybe, what all do I have to do?” Alex prodded. Kyle already took that as a big fat yes.

“Just act like we’re in a relationship. Hold hands, sleep in the same bed, shit we did when we were kids but now it’s romance colored because we’re adults and that’s how life works,” Kyle explained. Alex nodded slowly like he was taking in the information.

“Okay,” Alex said slowly, “And you’re paying for my flight and shit, right?”

Kyle rolled his eyes and smiled. “Of course.”

“Okay, boyfriend.”

-

“Oh, Alex! I’m so glad to see you two boys finally got together.”

Alex grinned over at Kyle’s Abuelita as she patted his hand. Most of the people in Kyle’s family, including Kyle, were playing football because that’s apparently what families do when they got together. Alex spun a story of how he was having a bad leg day and needed to sit the game out. That left him in the kitchen with Abuelita.

“Finally?” Alex asked. He knew they’d gotten a sea of shocked reactions when they strolled up to the rented house in Southern California hand in hand that morning. He wasn’t expecting a “finally”.

“I’m old, not blind, mijo,” she teased, casually dicing vegetables quicker than anyone he’d ever seen, “I saw the way my Kyle looked at you. It was only a matter of time.”

Alex’s eyebrows furrowed and he gave her an amused smile. “How did he look at me?”

Abuelita rolled her eyes and gave him a kind smile. “The same way you look at him.”

Alex looked through the sliding glass door, watching as Kyle picked up one of his young cousins who had the ball and spinning them around. He smiled. He highly doubted Kyle looked at him in the same way that Alex did. He was very away they had very different feelings towards each other. Kyle liked him as a friend; Alex wasn’t against the idea of something more.

Call him selfish or insane, this just felt like a way to live out a little childhood fantasy for a bit. It sounded like the best way to prove to himself that it wasn’t an option. Kyle wasn’t an option.

“If you say so.”

-

“Goodnight, boys!”

“Night, Mrs. Valenti!” 

Kyle watched as Alex giggled the entire way to the bed. Abuelita had all but pumped him full of spiked eggnog, making him tipsy at best. Kyle shook his head as he watched him unbutton his jeans and tried to wiggle them off.

“Do you need help?” Kyle asked, meeting his intoxicated friend at the bed.

“What does she put in that? My whole head is spinning,” Alex laughed, falling back on the bed and letting Kyle take over. He snorted and carefully took off his shoes and his jeans before working at the prosthetic.

“A little bit of cinnamon, a little bit of peppermint, and a fuck ton of bourbon,” Kyle said, “Most of us know to take it slow.”

“Hey, I haven’t gotten completely inebriated in years, let me live,” Alex argued, smiling easily as he got comfortable. Kyle just smiled at him. He liked seeing him so carefree. He put his leg to the side.

“I will,” Kyle chuckled, standing up. Alex raised his arms towards him.

“This sweater is itchy!” he announced. Kyle rolled his eyes, grabbing his hands and helping him sit up. Kyle slipped it off him and he immediately fell back again. It left Kyle with a fit soldier in his underwear in his bed.

Right. Smart. Not easy to fall in love with at all.

“You are so drunk,” Kyle said instead of something stupid.

“Mm, you’re too hot to be the one clothed,” Alex said, then paused before dissolving into laughter that was heartier than before, ”Shit.”

“Scoot over,” Kyle chuckled, taking off his shirt and swatting his best friend with it, “Thank you, by the way. For playing along.”

“No worries,” Alex said, eyes closing as he stretched. Kyle stared for a second too long. 

“You want to change into nightclothes or are you good being half-naked?” Kyle asked. Alex looked up at him, face red and eyes gleaming. 

“Would it bother you if I stayed like this? Don’t wanna offend you, straight boy,” he teased. Kyle snorted, shaking his head.

“We used to take baths together, this is nothing,” Kyle pointed out. Alex smiled a close-mouthed smile that was so wide his eyes scrunched up. Fuck.

“I remember that one time that you choked on bubbles and almost threw up in the bath,” Alex hummed. Kyle exchanged his jeans for a pair of sweats and flicked the light off.

“Yeah, then you refused to take a bath with me ever again,” Kyle said as he climbed into bed beside him. Alex snorted and Kyle threw a blanket over him.

“We were gettin’ kinda old for that anyway,” Alex replied, voice soft from fatigue. 

“G’night, Alex. Thanks for being a good friend,” Kyle told him, tucking the pillow under his head.

Alex was already sound asleep.

-

“Wake up, doc.” 

Kyle squeezed his eyes shut before he opened them and found himself looking at a bare chest. He furrowed his eyebrows and lifted his head to see he’d somehow ended up completely on top of Alex. The soldier was just staring at him with very amused eyes.

“Sorry,” Kyle grumbled, rolling off him. He rubbed his eyes and laid there for a moment before it really set in that he’d basically crushed Alex for an unknown amount of time. He sat up sharply. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry.”

“You’re fine, I know it got kinda cold in here,” Alex said, slowly sitting up himself, “I don’t mind.”

“Still,” Kyle laughed awkwardly, “Sorry.”

Alex just smiled and shook his head, stretching his arms up again. Kyle stared again. 

It was that one little moment that he decided he was fucked.

-

“I’m happy for you, you know.”

Kyle looked over to his mom as she sipped her coffee. Her eyes were on Alex who fit seamlessly into the family. He was putting together a puzzle with some of Kyle’s younger cousins and holding a conversation with his aunts. It wasn’t too different from the night before when he held casual conversations with everyone at dinner, happily sharing tales about his time in the service and just fitting perfectly. It was overwhelming. Maybe Kyle should’ve brought Isobel.

“Being with Alex couldn’t have been easy after your history,” she said, “And bringing him here knowing that we all expected a woman must’ve been terrifying. I’m proud of you for it and I’m so glad you’re happy.”

“You think me and him are a good idea?” Kyle asked honestly. A little too honestly. 

She sighed heavily and turned to face him. “Is there something you need to tell me?”

Kyle held his breath and waited impatiently for her to call him out. He’d heard that mothers know all from her too many times to count. Did she know they were faking it? She knew. She was looking at him like she knew. And she sighed so she really had to know.

“Are you second-guessing it?” she asked. Kyle licked his lips and looked over to Alex who was laughing and looking gorgeous as per usual. _Second-guessing something._

“How do you know when something is right?” he asked her. She sighed and turned to face him entirely.

“I can’t tell you that, Kyle,” she said, placing her coffee cup on her knee, “All I can tell you both look happy. I like the way he looks at you. It’s like you’re the only one in the room and you deserve to be looked at like that.”

Kyle took a heavy breath and looked back to Alex who was already grinning at him. Was that what it looked like to be stared at like you were the world?

It sure felt like it.

-

“Mistletoe!” 

“Oh, fuck,” Kyle breathed. Alex chuckled at him playfully, though he could feel his own panic rising. This wasn’t a part of the agreement.

“Too late boys, you’re caught!” Abuelita said, clapping her hands joyously together. Alex looked at him and Kyle looked back, a silent little agreement that this wasn’t a big deal. Of course not, they were best friends. Kyle was straight. Simple, simple, simple.

Alex moved first, giving him the quickest peck in the world. It was something you’d do at a middle school dance and call your first kiss. It was simple enough. It still had Alex’s heart thudding in his chest, but who cares about that.

“Oh, no need to be modest. No one’s judging you here,” one of Kyle’s aunts said. Alex raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kyle. Kyle just stared at him with flushed cheeks and then looked over to his mother before looking back at him.

And then he kissed him.

Like a real, grown-up kiss. No tongue, of course, but Alex could barely keep his thoughts straight. Kyle’s lips stayed on his for a whole five seconds while his family cheered them on. Something childish inside Alex exploded because of it. It was better than he could’ve hoped for.

When they finally separated, Alex opened his eyes and stared at Kyle in an absolute daze. Nothing was more shocking than seeing Kyle in a very, very similar daze. They stared for way too long.

“Aw, you two are so cute!” Abuelita announced, coming up to squeeze them tight. That was the only thing that broke them out of that gaze.

“Yeah,” Alex laughed, trying to shake away the feeling and turned to hug her back.

Fuck.

-

“So…” 

“Yeah.”

“That… That ki‒”

“Yep.”

“A lot.”

“Absolutely.”

Kyle heaved a sigh, keeping his back to Alex. He’d spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out what the hell it all meant and came up with nothing. All it meant was that he couldn’t lie anymore.

He was into Alex.

“I’m into you, Alex,” Kyle said, “I think… I think I have been for a while.”

“Okay,” Alex responded slowly, “Is that why you asked me to come here?”

“No. I genuinely thought I’d be more likely to fall in love with you than Isobel,” Kyle said softly. Alex huffed a laugh. “I didn’t… I didn’t realize that it was more. I just knew I thought you were hot and that I love you.” Alex tensed completely against his back. “Like, as a friend!”

“Okay,” Alex said again.

“Do you feel the same way, or…?” Kyle trailed off before physically cringing and shaking his head, “Why’d you agree to this?”

“Because… I don’t know, eleven year old me had a crush on you and when you asked me to be your fake boyfriend, I thought… I don’t know, childhood fantasy?” Alex said with a laugh, “It’s stupid.”

“Do you… like me now? As a twenty-eight year old? I know I’m significantly less cute than I was then, but maybe… adult Alex likes adult Kyle?” he asked. Alex laughed louder.

“Jesus, that sounds horrible,” he said and Kyle smiled. Alex turned around quickly, so Kyle did the same to face him. He was smiling. “I think you’re beautiful and kind and smart. I like you.”

“I like you too,” Kyle said again, “I want… I don’t know.”

“You want to be with me?” Alex asked. Kyle licked his lips and mulled the words over in his mind.

“Yeah, if that’s okay,” Kyle said, “You’re just gonna have to, like, help me.”

“I’ve never been in a legit relationship, Kyle, _you’re_ gonna have to help _me_ ,” Alex laughed. Kyle took a deep breath and smiled.

“We can figure it out together,” he said and Alex nodded.

It was Alex. How hard could it be?

“Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> Also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
